The document WO 9722312 A1 discloses a medical splint, the main feature of which is that it contains a core sheet, which may be plastically deformed by hand, without using auxiliary tools. The core sheet is a metal plate which is provided with corrugations, wherein ribs and channels are arranged substantially transverse to a particular direction, namely the longitudinal axis of the splint.
The corrugated core sheet, which is preferably made of aluminum and has a thickness of, for example 0.2 to 0.4 mm, is covered on both sides with a layer, which is adapted to the particular application. The inner covering layer may be formed as a cushion in order to improve the wearing comfort of the splint's rail. The outer covering layer may be washable, in order to make the splint less sensitive to external influences.
The basic idea of this type of splint is that the corrugation of the core sheet provides a “reserve area” which facilitates the adjustment of the splint on irregular body shapes. During shaping the splint itself by hand, the corrugations can be pressed locally to be flat or erected, which allows a local expansion or contraction of the splint.
In this way, wrinkling or buckling of the plate—as would be expected during the deformation of a flat plate—may be avoided. In addition, as a result of the arrangement of the corrugations transverse to the longitudinal direction of the splint during shaping the splint to fit to the splinted body part, a stiffening of the whole splint is achieved, so that it will have almost ideal properties for quick and easy manipulation, in order to be adapted to the shape of the splinted body part, for easy and comfortable wearing, and for providing the desired high rigidity.
Up to now, resilient and flexible, mostly textile-like straps have been applied for fixing a medical splint to an injured body part. These straps, however, did not sufficiently restrict the movement of the splinted body part. In some cases, however, it is desirable to apply fastening straps with which the splinting effect can be enhanced, and which can be also used for different purposes beyond the medical field.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,167 also discloses a medical splint comprising two corrugated core sheets, wherein the splint is to be tensioned around a body part along a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the splint.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved fastening element, especially for medical splints, but also for use in other fields, such as packaging objects, which elements may be deformed easily without any auxiliary tool and provide accurate and reliable fixation. It is another object of the invention to provide a method of immobilizing a body part by using such a fastening element. It is yet another object of the invention to provide a device for immobilizing an object.